Career Advice - Never Let Your Boss Be Surprised By Bad News

There is only one thing worse than delivering bad news to your boss. That is not raising the red flag when you know trouble is brewing, because it is a cardinal sin to let your boss be surprised.

No organization escapes the negatives forever. Budgets are not met. Deliveries are late. Machines do not work. Many people are caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

It is imperative to your career good results to understand how to deliver ill tidings, as nicely as how to get them.

There are at least 4 significant items wrong with failing to blow the whistle when stuff hits the fan.

First, ignoring bad stuff will not make it go away. It's bound to surface sooner or later, possibly at the worst probable time.

Second, most troubles can be fixed, wholly or in portion, if addressed soon enough.

Third, left unattended, most problems simply get bigger and extra tricky with time.

Fourth, when you fail to report the poor news, you are leaving your boss vulnerable to getting blindsided with a problem and the accusation from his boss that he does not have control of his organization.

Forget any notion that you could possibly be a hero when you have to carry the issues to your boss, no matter who's at fault. Probabilities are you will take some bruises whistleblowers are not preferred. In ancient times, kings cut off the heads of messengers who brought bad news.

Five Steps To Defuse The Situation

There is actually no easy way to report disappoints and shortfalls but, you can take 5 steps to aid defuse the situations and ease the pain.

1. Have all of the facts in hand. Report them succinctly no dodging and ducking.

2. Be patient let the boss vent his or her anger and frustration.

3. Offer you a remedy, or at least some way to cut the losses.

4. Don't be defensive. If you are solely to blame, take the heat yourself don't try to lay it off on others. Still, if a group of which you are a part is at fault be positive you report in the "we" mode. Try to depersonalize the matter as a great deal as probable.

5. Be certain to make a practice of reporting great news, too. Keep away from becoming identified as 1 who continually bears ill tidings.

How To Get Poor News

Just as it is necessary to rapidly and accurately report poor news, it is needed to know how to handle the storm warnings that are reported to you. These four actions will assist.

1. Remain calm and collected when an associate reports poor news to you. If you have a reputation of blowing up when such reports are created, you discourage the flow of data that is vital to function as a leader.

two. Don't go off half-cocked. Collect all the facts: who, what, when, where, why? Define the locale, sort and extent of the challenge as immediately as feasible. Assess the damage. And double-check your information.

3. Initiate damage control ASAP.

four. Report the scenario to your boss in the identical fashion as you anticipate to be reported to. If you have been able to clear up the predicament, report it anyway. Get credit for handling the matter without taking up his time.

If you have not been able to remove the challenge, clarify the actions you have already taken to prevent further harm, along with your recommendations for acquiring rid of the trigger of the difficulty.

Hopefully, you are working for an organization where the messenger gets shot only if he's late with the news.